Juno Books host Christina Fonthes talking about her beautiful debut novel Where You Go I Will Go.
In this stunning debut that takes us from 1980s Kinshasa to 2000s London, the stakes of love collide with religion and societal expectations, as two women search for a place of belonging.
1980s Kinshasa. Mira is the teenage daughter of a family on the rise. When she falls in love with an impoverished singer, a criminal the eyes of her parents, it sets her on a dramatic path that winds its way across oceans and decades.
2004, London. Bijoux is a young British-Congolese woman living with her silent and flinty Pentecostal aunt, Tantine Mireille. Outwardly she plays the role of the obedient child, going to prayer meetings and following instructions. But Bijoux has a secret; she is in love with a woman. She has been for a year. When her aunt wants her to marry one of the young men from the church, Bijoux has to make a decision.
Vividly bringing to life the Congo and its diaspora, Where You Go, I Will Go weaves Bijoux and Mira's stories together across two continents, two generations, through the mess of love and sexuality, and the pull of mother-daughter relationships, to finally bring them to a place of belonging – home.
‘Evocative and exhilarating. Christina Fonthes is a fresh and powerful new writer with a beautiful voice and bold talent.’
SALENA GODDEN, AUTHOR OF MRS DEATH MISSES DEATH
‘A wonderful, vital novel exploring familial legacies and queer lives. Fonthes deftly charts the complex paths of these characters with real verve and authenticity.’
IRENOSEN OKOJIE MBE, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF BUTTERFLY FISH
Christina Fonthes is a Congolese-British writer and the founder of REWRITE, an organisation that supports and champions Black women and women of colour writers. In 2021 she won the RSL Sky Arts Writers Award for Fiction, and was mentored by Bernardine Evaristo and Irenosen Okojie.
